Reliability / Availability

Description:
Nowadays, many terms which are part of the Reliability Engineering jargon are derived from the daily lifes vocabulary. Even though
these terms are, generally speaking, comprehensible, they require to be delimitated and defined within the proper context, in order
to have a clear understanding of what is Reliability Engineering about.
According to IEEE /IEC /MIL /DIN, Reliability can be defined as the ability of an item to perform a required function specified
by its intended purpose, under stated conditions during a given period of time".
Notwithstanding Reliability is not a quantifiable magnitude, all quantitative observations, as the quality of a system, refer to a finite and
delimitated period of observations, in other words, the duration of the mission.
Moreover, in Reliability Engineering, Availability (A) is used as a quantitative magnitude.
According to IEEE /IEC /MIL /DIN, Availability refers to the probability of finding an item in an operational state at a given time.
Accordingly, availability is the relationship between two times, namely the average time of failure-free operation
(during the mission) and the overall duration of the mission.
Furthermore, the average time of failure-free operation during the mission is known as the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF).
This term is based on the assumption that when a failure occurs, the system does not generally remain in the down state for the rest of
time the mission lasts, but is renewed or repaired.
Additionally, the time required for renewal or repair (i.e. from the start of the down state to the restoration of the up state) is known as
the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), often also called Mean Down Time (MDT).
If repairs are always carried out upon occurrence of a failure, then the duration of the mission is the sum of MTBF and MTTR.
For this standard, a practical case of availability is:

A=MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR)
Since technical systems are generally accepted and implemented only when they have high availability,
A is a figure that is less (but very close) than 1.

SIEMENS

MTBF = Mean Time Between Failure (average failure-free time)

The term MTBF applies to parts, components, modules, subsystems, systems and plants.
In most cases the stress factor temperature of 40 degrees (C) is taken as a basis.

Calculations for parts, components and modules are based on the following
standards
IEC 61709, SN 29500 and MIL-HDBK-217F
The "Parts Count" standard applies in this case. For instance, all components failure rates are
considered, regardless of the associated structure added (this does not apply to non-redundant
system structures).

1 / (MTBFtotal )

1 / (MTBFpart 1)

+.............+ 1 / (MTBFpart n)

SIEMENS

Calculations for subsystems, systems and plants are based on the

following standards:
IEEE 352, IEC 60300-3-1,
IEC 61069-5, MIL-STD 756B,
MIL-HDBK 338B........

A model is constructed
based on the components,
taking into account
the associated structure.

MTBF

total

f ( MTBFcomp, MTTR, CCF, DC, temp., ,structure, ......)

SIEMENS